We had 12 rentals by age 30.

To Sportf190, b4 you go out and start sending stuffs, you got to know not just absantee owners, but what kinds of demographic, georgraphic, age wise, financial wise are they in!!!

It's not a bad idea to look at all the homes in your price range regardless of age.

About 80% of them in my state are in crap areas (war zones).The other 20% are the ones everyone is trying to buy in much better areas with the same or better rents and lower taxes.With any great deal everyone is looking for the needle in the haystack.I personally do not like these investments because of the intensive time they take and you get one bad tenant and cash flow is shot for the year.Also many of these homes are much older in age with deferred maintenance meaning huge bills down the road.The huge repairs would outpace any appreciation and rent increases in a bunch of cases.In my area jobs are more transient these days.Houses are harder to qualify for with the mortgage process.People do not want to buy a property when they see values going down and a bunch of HOA fees and maintenance bills.They would rather stay in an apartment complex where everything is done for them and can move in a quick changing market and stay fluid.Not all markets are like this and people are still buying homes here but not in droves.I think banks are expecting a fever pitch of buying this summers from home buyers.If that doesn't happen the banks won't feel as confident with the pent up inventory they will still need to liquidate.

I am 29 so I can recover from the credit hit but at my age, there is really no sense in digging myself a huge hole.The options I am willing to do:1.)

But, at age 55, I am finding I don't go as long as I used to.

My over-arching goal is to be financially free and leave the corporate world by the age of 30 but I have small near terms along the way.

I am the solace of the widow, the comfort of old age, the cornerstone of security against misfortune and want.

I think your portfolio should have a certain level of diversification depending on your age, your risk tolerance, your expectations, plans for the future, and whatever will make you sleep at night.

To determine what you can get a property to appraise for (when selling).While the square footage method (and adjusting the comps based on their differential square footage) might be reasonable for determining what a property will appraise for, the fact that there are a different number of bedrooms could have a much more significant impact on the resale price.To determine ARV for the purposes of estimating resale value, you really need to find a couple more houses that are similar in terms of number of bedrooms (and obviously make sure things like condition, style and age are still comparable).